Free Spirits
by Terrapin Kavalier
Summary: Who is there for Nabooru after a heart-wrenching breakup but Link? The two, together, discover their common bond.


The moment at which one is most vulnerable is during emotional trauma. It is at this point that one's id is most likely to manifest itself. Any Freudian fanfiction writer would concur, and he would be most joyful when he had found his subject in a most unexpected place--the world of Hyrule--, for who among the respectable practitioners of psychoanalysis would deign to look for reflections of the human self in the world of the imagination? Nevertheless, the case that recently happened would have interested Freudian psychiatrists.  
  
Trauma is precisely what had happened to Nabooru on that fateful day. In fact, were it up to this author to write the diagnosis, trauma would have been an understatement. The field of Freudian psychology will have gained yet another term, one that is similar to the release of suppressed rage--no doubt a conflict between the superego and the id, as are all mental instabilities--, but in this particular case, the manner of release is quite different from the expected mechanism--that is, of course, why the case might have interested a Freudian psychologist. The combination of righteous wrath and her skills as a robber and swordsman may have led one to believe that the result of her anger is a bloodbath, the center of which is the responsible party--one man, actually--, but the outcome is different. Without so much as a tantrum, Nabooru, the Sage of Spirit and the leader of the Gerudo thieves, settled into a tearful depression, refusing food and water.  
  
The Gerudos took much trouble to examine the cause of their leader's depression. In fact, they were so zealous to find out that almost as soon as the lone rider came back on her horse from the pillaging trip, bearing the latest excerpt of a round of banter from Hyrule market, all in the fortress knew of the reason for their leader's current mood. It was, quite unlike what they expected, trouble with a man. It seemed, according to the meticulous bearer of the news, recently returned from Hyrule market and told the tale--or was it several tales? The Gerudos never found out--, that the man Nabooru found in a nocturnal raid into Hyrule market had dumped her.  
  
"'We should break up,' said the man," reported the Gerudo historian when she was first accosted by the guards at the bridge, which was when she entered the fortress from her long raid, "after a single night of torrid affairs."  
  
The account was soon accepted as fact, and the Gerudo thieves took it upon themselves to discuss the event. The meeting was going smoothly until one with a particularly keen short-term memory asked, "How many is a score of nights? I can't figure out what she meant when she said Nabooru snuck into town just to see him for that many nights." At the point, the formerly civilized meeting took a rather noisy turn, and the noise made by the participants grew loud enough that soon, the guards--they were, of course, also curious Gerudos eager to share in the troubles of their leader--left their post to voice their opinion on the matter. It was a rather engrossing affair, actually. Not a single Gerudo, who are known for their sharp sights, noticed when Nabooru absent-mindedly walked past them and out the fortress.  
  
Nabooru was upon the threshold of the cliff when he rode into the scene. He was, of course, the newest member of the Gerudo thieves, though he carried no loot when he entered the Gerudo Valley on his brown mare. This man was Link. When he saw the red haired woman gazing down at the river in the valley, he called to her. She was not too distracted to be startled by a male voice in the valley, and she lifted her head to see the Hero of Time. It was at that moment that a spark happened. He rode to her and dismounted. With a minimum exchange of words, as such occasions demand, they saddled Epona with twice the weight as when Link came in, and the mare trotted off toward the sunset.  
  
From that moment forward, the two were seldom seen apart (or seen, for that matter. Rogues seem to prefer the stealth of the night). They did everything together, according to eyewitnesses. One townsfolk testified to Link's prank on the Hylian guard. It was a peaceful and sunny day in Hyrule Market, though it poured in Gerudo Valley--some speculated that it was the reason Link and Nabooru were in town. It was such a typical spring day that, though the guards are vigilant, they started to doze off. It was when the head of the guard on the right--his name is Frank--started to nod that his shield fell off. To his chagrin, he discovered that Link had stolen the buckles off his shield. Nabooru had hoped to train Link for bigger crimes, but the eyewitness swears that she only sighed at the juvenility of Link's crime.  
  
It was because of that prank that Nabooru planned her grand theft attempt at the palace. She was after the royal jewels, carefully hidden in the castle treasury that is guarded by two lethargic guards. The attempt to sneak into the castle had been rather successful--the reached the two soundly sleeping soldiers of the crown without making as much noise as a pin would when it dropped. They did, however, get an idea of how pin dropping would have sounded during their exit, for Link dropped all of the diamond brooches he was carrying when he was hurrying to escape the patrolling guards in the garden, and they, defying the law of entropy, all dropped with the pin side down. It was not long after that the majority of the guards in the castle witness the fastest ocarina playing of their life atop the castle battlements, even though Link had to only play the eight notes of the Requiem of Spirit. It was later reported by an adventuring-- she indicated it as the purpose of her sojourn after hours of solemn oaths-- Gerudo that Nabooru, like expected of the lover, sighed and forgave Link with nary a word.  
  
So, despite their differences, the two lived their secretive lives happily together. Whether tragedy--what kind is fairly evident--struck at a later time? Who knows? All that matters is that they are the picture of happiness now. 


End file.
